A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Trump administration is making it more difficult for healthy children and healthy pregnant women to get the COVID vaccine, and that is worrying parents, younger adults and pregnant women who still want the shot. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein spoke with some of them.
ROB STEIN, BYLINE: Loryn Competti (ph) was relaxing with her husband at their home in Cincinnati when she heard about the new recommendations for who should get a COVID vaccine.
LORYN COMPETTI: I was sitting on my couch watching the news. I was just like, what is happening? I started crying. I was like, they're not recommending it for pregnant women anymore. And I was like, is this really, like, what's happening? Like, am I not going to be able to get this vaccine? Why? Why? That's absolutely terrifying.
STEIN: Terrifying because the 30-year-old Ohio state worker is about five months pregnant, but the CDC is no longer recommending the shots for healthy pregnant women.
COMPETTI: I don't want to get COVID while I'm pregnant. I don't want it to hurt my child. I don't want to have a premature birth. I just know that there's complications that come along with it, so that does scare me.
STEIN: She also knows that the only way to protect her newborn baby is by getting vaccinated herself.
COMPETTI: Not only does it protect me while I'm pregnant, but it does help the child once they're born in their first few months of life when they have zero immunity to it whatsoever. So, you know, that's important to me. I want my child to have access to that.
STEIN: And healthy pregnant women aren't the only people who are worried. In Nashville, Ashley Hoskins (ph), her husband, Bob (ph) and their daughter want to keep getting vaccinated, too. That's because Bob has to take powerful drugs to prevent his body from rejecting his transplanted kidney.
ASHLEY HOSKINS: He's at a heightened risk to catch everything. So not only do we have to worry about whether or not he can receive vaccines, we have always had to be vaccinated, as well, to provide another wall of protection around him.
STEIN: Bob will still be able to get a shot, but now Hoskins and her daughter worry whether they will, too. That's because the FDA now says there's only enough evidence proving the vaccines are safe and effective for people 65 or older or who have other health problems. So Hoskins may no longer qualify. And as for her daughter, the CDC isn't recommending the vaccine for healthy kids anymore, just saying parents can talk to their doctors about getting the shots.
HOSKINS: Blanket decisions like this, it doesn't allow the families to think about their own private situation. How do we protect the people that we love? People are going to get hurt. So, yeah, it's frustrating. It's scary.
STEIN: And Rachel Sampler Zelaya (ph) is worried, too. She's 42 and lives in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. Her 6-year-old daughter has asthma, so she wants to keep getting herself, her husband and their two other healthy kids vaccinated to protect her, too. But the new policies could make it harder for the rest of the family.
RACHEL SAMPLER ZELAYA: I'm angry. Angry, frustrated.
STEIN: And she's not just angry and frustrated because she's worried about protecting her daughter. She wants to shield the whole family.
SAMPLER ZELAYA: It's not just a cold. It affects the vascular system, the neurological system, the immune system. And even mild cases have the potential to develop into long COVID. You know, the brain fog, the memory, the fatigue. We vaccinate for far less, and this is definitely a disease to me that needs to be vaccinated for.
STEIN: She says suddenly having to worry about the vaccines again feels like a flashback to the early days of the pandemic.
SAMPLER ZELAYA: It feels like we are going back in time again to that same place where there's not a whole lot that I can do to protect my kids.
STEIN: Federal officials say the changes make sense because so many people have so much immunity now. They also question the safety of the vaccines, even though billions of people have gotten the shots. Many experts say that demonstrates the vaccines are very safe and effective for everyone. Competti, Hoskins and Zelaya know they will probably still be able to get the shots by paying for them for themselves. But all the uncertainty and changing rules makes them anxious. Here's Competti again, the pregnant woman from Ohio.
COMPETTI: Yeah, I'm just worried that if we're losing access to, you know, COVID vaccines, and I don't know if other things are going to get taken away. Yeah, I'm just scared. I'm just scared. I don't know what's happening.
STEIN: Rob Stein, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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